Yesterday I got a chance to work on art almost all day long. It was a rare event and I savored it. When I was working on my illustrations for the video Never Going Back to the Gravity by Mad July, I didn’t have time to work on my own illustrations, but I still worked in my journal. I write in the morning and sketch when I get the chance.
In March there were a few times when I was in meetings or on a long bus ride and I got to do some stream of consciousness sketches. It was interesting to me to see how little scribbles turned into visual narratives of a sort. There was no set direction and no goal. A different sort of energy comes into play than what would happen if I was drawing from life where I get super focused and aware of the world around me. In these, I became more aware of the world within me.
Three of them, I am developing into painting. All of them speak to reconnection with the natural world. This one became the painting I posted last week:
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| Pencil and colored pencil |
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| Spring Redemption |
This one:
Became this new painting:
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| A Bird Told Me, watercolor, ink, pencil, colored pencil on 300 lb Arches paper treated with absorbent ground gesso |
These drawings and paintings helped me move forward a bit with my art. The Spring Redemption painting took three tries to get the face the way I wanted. After the first try failed, I decided to paint over it with Daniel Smith’s absorbent ground gesso. It covered the first painting fairly well although there was still a shadow. When I painted, though, the paint bleed outside the lines I had drawn. It was not a happy accident. I don’t mind loosening up when the watercolor won’t let me have my way, but I wanted subtle use of color. I got a fresh piece of Arches Paper and everything went well the third time around.
The paper that failed me got another 2 coats of absorbent ground. I purposely made brush strokes for texture. Since I knew the paint might bleed, I paid attention to edges and stopped before I reached them and let the paint settle. It mostly happened with very wet applications.
I painted the dress of the woman in real lapis lazuli paint from Daniel Smith. It’s a duller blue that ultra marine, but I like that it’s “real,” and provides for me a little history and earthiness to this woman who is listening to nature sing.
The next sketch I’m turning into a painting is a bit more abstract and I’ll show that hopefully next week, if I can keep carving out painting time.
Life is good.
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joy murray art~stories~life 